IMPRIMâ—â—â—â— October 24. 1692. A Practical Discourse UPON PRAYER By EDWARD PELLING D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties and Rector of Petworth in Sussex LONDON Printed by Edw. Jones for William Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1693. A Practical Discourse UPON PRAYER THere is not any one act of Religion which carries with it a more beautiful Lustre or which is of greater use to us in all manner of of respects or which is more strictly required by the Laws of God or better recommended to us by the practise of God's Saints especially by the most holy Example of our Blessed Saviour himself than that of Prayer And for this reason I think I cannot do a more becoming or better office than to discourse upon this Subject after a plain practical manner as fully and yet as briefly as I can By Prayer I mean now not only Supplication to God or the Asking and Begging at his hands all such things as we want both for our Souls and Bodies but in the largest sense of the word the Praising and Blessing of his Holy Name also and the giving him thanks for all those Benefits which we have already received from him And in discoursing upon this subject I shall proceed after this easie instructive method I. First I shall consider the Motives which serve to kindle and increase in us a Spirit of Devotion II. And then Secondly For the due performance of this great thing I shall shew the way and manner after which it is to be done Now there are several Motives unto Prayer which may be taken 1. Partly from the Consideration of God's Nature and Works and 2. Partly too from the Consideration of Prayer it self I. First The Greatness and Majesty of God is so infinite and he is so infinitely exalted above all things else that he deserves and is highly worthy of all manner of Adoration by reason of the Perfections and Glories of his Nature All worship is founded upon the real or at least supposed Dignity of the Object and the very blindest People in every Nation pay it because they believe that there is something above them and that the Being they worship is better and Greater than themselves We therefore to whom the true and ever-blessed God hath been pleased to reveal himself so plainly from Heaven should never fail in this part of our Duty to him because we know him to be the most Excellent Being in the World Higher than all that are in the Earth exalted far above all Gods or above the Highest Dignities Psal 97. 9. God hath so manifested himself in times past by his Prophets and in the last days by the Eternal Son of his Bosom that if People would but look upon him by Faith and with attentive Minds contemplate those admirable Glories wherewith he shines it would naturally move them to prostrate themselves before him and to offer up the affections of their Souls to him For the Reasons of our Devotions are in his own most perfect Nature and those perfections which we discover there do cast such a powerful infiueuce upon our Minds that they set the Faculties of the Soul presently on work and after a most kindly manner excite us to such acts of Adoration as are suitable to those apprehensions we have of the Divine Being As for instance The Notions we have of God are that he is Eternal Self-existent absolutely Perfect infinitely Happy full of Majesty Glorious in Holiness and that Heaven is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool And if we would rightly consider this and consider withal what our own condition is what needy frail despicable and wretched things we are this alone would powerfully move us to fall down upon our Knees before him to praise and magnifie his Name to extol his Greatness and to worship him with all suitable Awe and Reverence Again We have this notion of God that he is about our Paths and about our Beds and understandeth all our ways that he seeth in Secret that he maketh manifest the Counsels of the Heart and that where two or three are gathered together in his Name there he is in the midst of them And how naturally doth the consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omniscience move us to pray every where unto him To pour out our Hearts before him in all our necessities and circumstances to call upon him and to speak to him with that sincerity of Heart with that attention of Mind with that fervency of Affection and with that modest humble and reverent Behaviour which becomes those who are under the Eye and in the presence and hearing of that infinite Being who searcheth the very Heart and Reins This Notion we have of God too that whatsoever he pleaseth that he doeth in Heaven and in Earth that he ordereth all things according to the Counsel of his own will and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy So that if any Man be more excellent than his Neighbour whether it be in Spiritual or in Temporal and Worldly respects it is God that makes the difference of his own good pleasure And doth not this lay very strict obligations upon us to seek his face evermore To be constant Supplicants at the Throne of Grace And to give the Lord most humble and hearty thanks for the Benefits and Blessings he is pleased to bestow upon us Again The notion of God signifies a Being infinitely wise that knows all our wants and what is best and most convenient for us infinitely Powerful that is able to answer all our necessities and infinitely Good that extendeth his mercies to all his Works and is particularly gracious to all that call upon him to all that call upon him faithfully And if we seriously consider that we depend upon his good Providence every moment of our Lives it would powerfully move us to have recourse unto him continually to open our hearts to him to lay our necessities before him importunately beseeching him to take us under his care and to supply us with all things needful both for Soul and Body Above all it would charm us into Devotion did we but consider how God loves every Soul which he hath created that as he is happy in himself so he desires that we too may be perfectly happy in him that all his Dipensations are in order to this great end that the very Duties he exacteth at our hands are intended to fit and prepare us for it that the very afflictions he lays upon us are to discipline us for Heaven and that all things work together for good to them that love him These considerations are enough to kindle in our hearts the most ardent affections towards him And where affection is there will be all chearful Obedience and there our Love of God will make us with readiness and zeal and pleasure of Mind express the sense we have of his great Goodness by the most devout Adorations It is for want of
signifying the Spiritual Cleanness which is requisite in all that prepare themselves to speak unto the God of Purity And so the Psalmist explains it Psal 26. 6. I will wash my hands in Innocency and so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. These places of Scripture do not mean that we must not Pray if we have committed Sin or if we have the sense of any guilt upon us No we must Pray the rather that God may forgive and pardon the Sins we have committed But the meaning is that we are not to go to our Prayers with the love of Sin about us or with purposes to Sin on still Our Souls must be clean and pure from wicked Resolutions and Affections we must appear before the Lord empty in this sense void of all sinful Habits and Intentions The Heart is the Censer and it must be Holy and the Incense must be Holy which comes out of it If any Lusts of Uncleanness be burning there it is as abominable as the offering up of Unhallowed fire If there be Envy or Hatred Malice Bitterness or designs of Revenge it is as if we lifted up hands defiled with Blood For in the construction of the Gospel he that hateth his Brother is a murderer 1 Jo. 3. 15. If there be that which the Scripture calls Filthiness of Spirit it is like the offering of Swines-Flesh If there be a Ravenous or Quarrelsome temper it is like the presenting of a Dog's Neck If there be an insatiable or inordinate love of the World it is like Sacrificing to an Idol We should be sure therefore at our Devotion to have Penitent and Honest Hearts pure Affections and gracious Lips It is the Holy Person that makes the Prayer Holy that Sanctifies the Altar and the Sacrifice upon it so as to make the savour thereof sweet in God's Nostrils Where Sin lyeth at the Door it stops the passage of Prayer and hinders it from being successful Such a one hath no benefit either by his own Prayers or other Mens Witness the Story of Achan Jos 7. Achan had kept some of the spoil of Jericho which was consecrated unto the Lord this Sin was imputed to the whole Congregation and God refused to hear Joshua's Prayer for them The Lord said unto Joshua get thee up wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned for they have even taken of the accursed Thing that is the thing which was devoted unto me and which hath now brought a Curse upon them Jos 7. 10 11. Sin unrepented of hinders the Power and Efficacy of Prayer II. Besides Innocence of Heart there is required in a devout Person Constancy and Perservance Pray without ceasing 1 Thess 5. 17. Continuing instant in Prayer Rom. 12. 12. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance Ephes 6. 18. Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving Col. 4. 2. All which commands are pursuant to that of our Blessed Saviour that Men ought always to Pray and not to faint Luk. 18. 1. These places of Scripture are not to be understood in such a strict sense as if we were to employ our whole time at Prayer without doing any thing else for that is inconsistent with the business of our Calings and impossible for humane Nature to do But the meaning is that our minds must always be devoutly disposed that some portions of every day should be set aside for Prayer that we should be diligent and frequent at it addicted to it and intent upon it and that we should not let slip any set or convenient hours of Devotions but observe them constantly as oft as they return As Saint Chrysostom hath rightly noted in Col. 4. 2. the Devil throughly knows what a good thing Prayer is and therefore he mightily endeavours to keep People from it He draws them into his own Snares by drawing them away from God by tempting them first to Pray seldom and so by degrees to give it quite over By this wile of the Devil there is a great strangeness between them and God which at last endeth in direct Enmity and then it falls out as it happens usually in differences between Man and Man that the offender is the hardest to be Reconciled It is therefore our Wisdom to Renew our Prayers and to draw nigh unto God often to repair to him as frequently at least as the Holy Psalmist speaks of Evening and Morning and at Noonday will I pray and cry aloud Ps 55. 17. By this means our Hearts will be kept up at a high Key our acquaintance with God will not only be preserved but increase too the Duty it self will become easie and delightful our Life will resemble in some measure the Heavenly state and we shall prepare our selves by it for the services of Eternity the Joys above will be our portion here our Conversation will be every day in Heaven together with our Hearts our Temptations unto Sin will lessen our irregular Affections will be the better conquered and the sooner transformed into a Divine Love and if there could be a Sinless state on Earth this would be the ready way to it because it would keep the minds of Men under a continual Awe and Dread of offending that Holy Just and Omniscient Being in whose Presence they must appear and to whose Majesty they must speak the next hour Besides we must not always expect to be heard for once or twice speaking God doth many times suspend the answering our desires to Try and Exercise our Faith to envigorate our Zeal to make our Devotion the more fervent and our Addresses to him the more and more importunate like the crys of the restless Widow in the Parable which our Saviour used as an argument to shew that Men ought always to pray and not to faint Luke 18. If therefore our wants are not supplied as we would have them the fault is in our selves because we are not so Constant so Frequent so Importunate at our Prayers as we should be It is a set and stated Course of Devotion that God is pleased with and this is one reason why we reap so little profit by all our Labours under the Sun because we squander away a great part of our time upon Vanity or upon Vice which should be devoted unto God to maintain a continual intercourse and communion with him and to fetch down his Blessings upon us Such an intercourse as was between God and Jacob when the Angels were Ascending and Descending on the Ladder III. Prayer must be accompanied with Faith If any of you lack Wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him But let him ask in Faith or with Faith nothing wavering c. James 1. 5 6. The meaning is not that we must always confidently believe that we shall most certainly receive every particular thing we pray for We cannot confidently expect what
and an unbended Knee are far from being expressions of that great sense we ought to have of God's Majesty and of our own Vileness and infinite distance from him And besides the Decency of this matter it is to be considered that Bowings and Prostrations and such outward acts of Religious Worship are God's proper and peculiar right or else the second Commandment would not have it unlawful to give them away to other things Indeed as to actions of this nature Men should be careful not to fly out into Vanity Fantasticalness or Superstition but contain themselves within the bounds of an Humble and Reasonable service When Decency and Prudence are observed Reverent gestures are of great use to heighten the Devotion of the Heart and at the Publick Service of the Church they are Exemplary too and by consequence good means in their kind to provoke assist and raise the Devotion of all I have now done these two things which I was desirous to discourse of in their due order to form in your Hearts a Devout temper and to instruct you in the way how you are to offer unto God your Daily Sacrifice so that it may be Holy and Acceptable to him If we intend to be wise for our selves and to order our Life so that it may be well with us nothing can be of greater concernment excellence or advantage to us than a Spirit of Devotion Hereby we become conformable to the Image of our Blessed Saviour whose custom was not only to repair to the Temple and Synagogues there to joyn with the rest of the Jews in the Publick Worship of God but to retire also into Solitudes and Desarts for Private Commerce with his Father and sometimes to continue whole Nights in Prayer Nor is it possible for us to walk as we should but by treading in some fair measure in those steps of his and by leading as he did a life of Piety Hereby we resemble too those first Disciples of his on whose Hearts the Blood of Christ was so warm and in whose Spirits there was such a constant Fervor and Zeal that they were daily in the Temple praising and blessing God and divided their hours between the publick Sanctuary and that private House or Oratory by it whither they were constrained to go for those solemn offices which were peculiar to Christianity By a Spirit of Devotion we have our Hearts daily there where our only true treasure is we are taking every hour a new step out of this vexatious and vain World we exercise the Faith Patience and Humility of Saints we learn to be Meek Charitable and Holy We are full of the joys and comforts of the Holy Ghost even amidst those Thistles and Brambles which we are to go through towards God's Kingdom we lye down with Pleasure sleep in Peace and rise again under the covert of the Divine Protection we have God always in our thoughts and live daily upon the sense of his present Goodness and upon the Credit of his Power Faithfulness and Truth for the future replenished with those hopes which will never make us ashamed we think every day of our latter end and prepare for it and lay up before hand an inestimable Treasure against it which is the only thing that can stand us in stead on our Death-Beds when the satisfactions of this life will slip out of our hands like Sands and slide away from us like a Shadow This and much more comes by a Spirit of Devotion and therefore let me beseech you to be ever mindful of that that which will return you your last and richest Crop when you have done with all your Corn Wine and Oyl Now for the kindling and cherishing of a Spirit of Devotion in the Hearts give me leave to propose these following means I. That we never neglect Private Prayer Our Blessed Saviour sends us into our Closets there to shut our Doors after us Matth. 6. And the reason is because every man hath some Particular Sins to beg God's forgiveness for some particular Mercies to be implored some particular wants to be supplied some particular Graces to be desired God hath no where required nor is it proper for us to proclaim all our necessities from the House-top and therefore we are to go to him who is in secret and to whom we may unbosom our selves with freedom and safety This will not only breed an awe upon our Minds with an hearty affection to that Divine Beiug we familiarly speak to in Private but it will also make us in Love with that which is the means of this familiarity so that by Praying often we shall be the more willing and ready to pray still nor will it be an easie matter for us to venture either to begin any business without begging God's assistance and protection over us or to close up the Day without giving him thanks and praise for the Mercies of it II. Where Men have the care of Families committed to them they should teach them to be of a devout temper too by their own Example Remember the pious resolution of Josuah Jo. 24. 15. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. When a Spirit of Devotion influenceth a whole Houshold every ones Zeal is kept warm and increased by it and the Blessing of God is upon them all To this end we should teach our Children and Servants to pray as our Lord taught his Family And by his giving them a Form he hath shewed us which is an Effectual way of breeding up our respective charges in the fear and nurture of the Lord viz. by putting some short and wholesome Prayers into their Mouths and Memories And this advantage every private Family might easily get by our publick Service Books if people would but apply their minds in Diligence to use it as they should There is in it great variety and store of choice Forms which may be digested and remembred with the more facility because they are concise Nor is there any condition of Life but we may pick out some Forms which are one way or other suitable to our circumstances especially as to our spiritual wants and if people would be careful to learn them and imprint them in their hearts they would not only be devoutly disposed in the midst of their secular affairs but be furnished too with matter to offer continually up to God at lost in their minds and thoughts For even at the works of their Callings men may meditate They may think often upon God and of things pertaining to Godliness without any loss of time or hindrance to their worldly Employments By the very lifting up of the Eye a thought of Heaven may fall in and of the way to get thither Any the least work of Nature is enough to put us in mind of the Divine Power and Wisdom Nay the very Works of our own hands may help us to consider how necessary it is to work out our Salvation above all things If
God of thy bountiful goodness keep us we beseech thee from all things that may hurt us that we being ready both in Body and Soul may chearfully accomplish those things that thou wouldst have done through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty and Everlasting God give us the increase of Faith Hope and Charity and that we may receive that which thou dost promise make us to love that which thou dost command through Jesus Christ our Lord. GRant to us Lord we beseech thee the Spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful that we who cannot do any thing that is good without thee may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will through Christ our Lord. LOrd of all Power and Might who art the Author and giver of all good things graft in our Hearts the Love of thy Name increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty God who hast given thine only Son to be unto us 〈◊〉 a Sacrifice for Sin and also an Ensample of Godly Life give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable Benefit and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy Life through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. GRant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty and Everlasting God who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the Sins of all them that are Penitent Create and make in us new and contrite Hearts that we worthily lamenting our Sins and acknowledging our Wretchedness may obtain of thee the God of all Mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. WE humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy name turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living to thy Honour and Glory through our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. O God who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by reason of the frailty of our Nature we cannot always stand upright grant unto us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. EVENING PRAYERS LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great Mercy defend us from all Perils and Dangers of this Night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ALmighty and Everlasting God mercifully look upon our infirmities and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy Righthand to help and defend us through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty God who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our Souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the Body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the Soul through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord we beseech thee mercifully hear our Prayers and spare all those who confess their Sins unto thee that they whose Consciences by Sin are accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord. GRant we beseech thee Almighty God that we who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ALmighty and Everlasting God who dost govern all things in Heaven and Earth mercifully hear the supplications of thy people and grant us thy peace all the days of our Life through Christ our Lord. O Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of Charity the very bond of Peace and of all virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake O Lord God most Holy O Lord most Mighty O Holy and most merciful Saviour deliver us not into the bitter pains of Eternal Death Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our Hearts shut not thy merciful Ears to our Prayers but spare us Lord most holy O God most mighty O holy and merciful Saviour thou most worthy Judge Eternal suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee O God whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil and make us the Sons of God and Heirs of Eternal Life grant us we beseech thee that having this hope we may purifie our selves even as he is pure that when he shall appear again with power and great Glory we may be made like unto him in his Eternal and Glorious Kingdom where with thee O Father and thee O Holy Ghost he liveth and reigneth ever one God World without end GRant O Lord that as we are Baptized into the Death of thy Blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him and that through the Grave and Gate of Death we may pass to our joyful Resurrection for his Merits who died and was buried and rose again for us thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love Keep us we beseech thee under the protection of thy good Providence and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord we beseech thee let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church and because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness through Christ our Lord. UNto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit our selves The Lord bless us and keep us The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracions unto us The Lord lift up his Countenance upon us and give us peace both now and evermore Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name c. Short PRAYERS fit to be learn'd by Heart and to be used by single Persons at any time LOrd have mercy upon me O God make clean my Heart within me And take not thy holy Spirit from me O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World grant me thy Peace O Lord deal not with me after my Sins Neither reward me after mine iniquities Lord have mercy upon me and incline my Heart to keep thy Laws Grant that all Carnal affections may die in me and
a true sense of God that People are so seldom at Prayer so hardly drawn to it so cold and careless and as it were unconcerned at it Right apprehensions of his Nature and Perfections do naturally cast such an influence upon the mind as would soon set the Powers and Faculties of the Soul on motion if we would dispose our selves so as to be capable of those Divine impressions and if we would duly consider what God is in himself And for that purpose we should look every day for him in the Scriptures and contemplate those Beauties and Glories under which he is represented to us in the Scriptures for there we have a true Revelation of his Essence and Attributes there he is represented as a Being so Great and Holy so Immense and Glorious so Omnipotent and Omniscient so Wise and Powerful so Communicative Kind and Beneficent and in every respect so Amiable and Adorable that were there no other considerations this alone touching the transcendent Excellence of his Nature would be a strong Argument to move us to worship him daily in the beauty of Holiness II. If besides this we consider God in his Works and as he stands related to us under the notion of a Being in whom we Live and Move and have our own Being and to whom we owe all that we have all that we are and all that we expect and hope to be we shall find what a just Right Title and Claim he hath to our daily Devotion These Works of God are of three sorts 1. First His Creating and Forming of us in the Womb. By Virtue hereof he doth justly challenge and require all possible services from us as his peculiar Right and Due and it was for this end that he fashioned the several Members of our Bodies and endued us with Rational Souls that we should Glorifie him with our Bodies and with our Spirits And what can be more reasonable then that he who gave us Hearts should have them That he who Formed our Lips should be praised and magnified with them That we should Worship and Fall down and Kneel before that infinite Being which is our Maker I will praise thee O Lord saith the Holy Psalmist for this reason because I am fearfully and wonderfully made Ps 139. 14. And would to God every Man would seriously consider before he goes out of the World for what end and purpose he came into it 'T will be a very dismal thing in that day when the terrors of Death are about him to have the Torments of an Evil Conscience too and to remember with anguish and bitterness how many blessed Opportunities of Devotion he hath despised how much time he has thrown away upon Wicked or upon vain Employments which God sent him into the World to spend upon offices of Religion and for how many years together he hath dishonoured the Majesty of Heaven with those Faculties which were made to serve and Glorifie and Adore him Think often I beseech you of the Day of your dissolntion when the Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Lay up betimes a good treasure against that day Put not off Devotion as a work proper only for a Death-bed God alone knoweth how you will be disposed at that time They have not cryed unto me with their heart when they howled upon their Bed saith God Hosea 7. 14. Your Hearts may deceive you at your last Hour though you think your selves sure of them now A Life of Piety and Devotion cannot possibly deceive you It must needs save you many Tears and Groans and bitter Thoughts of Heart but it cannot cost you any to consider that you have remember'd the Creator from the days of your Youth 2. Another work of God by Virtue whereof he hath a just right to our Prayers and Praises is his Providence Hereby God preserves that Being which he first gave us supports our Faculties and supplies us with all things that are necessary and suitable to our Natures The Measures of God's Providence are not all equal or alike but it differs in its proportion according as things differ in Degree and Dignity It is general over all things and shews it self by conserving and sustaining every part of the Universe It is particular and special over Men who are the principal part of the sublunary World and as they are Evil or Good so doth God adapt and suit his Providence to them according to their respective conditions He tenders his Grace and Mercy even to the Wicked is Patient and Long-suffering towards them that the sense of his Goodness may lead them to Repentance Upon their sincere Repentance he Pardons them but if instead of hearkning to his Calls they continue obstinate and go on still in their Wickedness then he doth Punish and Plague them oftentimes makes them visible Examples of his Wrath and Vengeance even in this World and sometimes too delivers them up to a Reprobate mind which is the heaviest and forest Plague of all To such as make a due use of his Grace he giveth more These he Nurtureth and Loves as a Father doth his Children and indeed with much more tenderness and compassion He taketh a most especial care of them the very Hairs of their Heads are all numbred they want no manner of thing that is really good for them and though he doth suffer them sometimes to be evil intreated and hardly used here yet he never lets them go out of his hands but compensates their sufferings abundantly and makes all things work together for their good nor can any thing in this World be able to separate them from his Love And doth not all this make it Necessary for us to be conversant daily at the Throne of Grace Is it God that upholdeth us and are not we concerned to beseech him not to withdraw his arm from under us Is it of his meer Compassion and Mercy that we are not utterly consumed and shall we not Praise and Adore him for it Is it at his hands that we must receive every good and perfect gift and shall we not repair to him in all our Necessities Is the Sword Famine and Pestilence every calamity we feel and every Judgment we are afraid of are all these sent from God and are we not deeply concerned to deprecate his Vengeance Is it God alone that can forgive Sin and is it not our duty to Beg it upon our Knees Or have we not Sins to ask his Pardon for Have we no other wants to be supplyed Are there no Mercies that we stand in need of Have we no Souls nor Bodies to be provided for Are there no Evils we desire to be delivered from Are there no Dangers we would avoid Is not God's Protection Day and Night necessary to be desired Is not his special Grace and Favour to be Implored Or have we not received any Favours and Blessings to return him our Thanks for These